Of Love, Death and Butterbeer
by ToastyTamLin
Summary: Join Harry after his second year as he begins to become the hero he was meant to be. This is the beginnings of an attempt at a slightly longer fic. I don't know yet how things will unfold. What I do know is that it will be HHr, and maybe HHrL, though how far I develop that I don't yet know. It depends on how confident I feel at attempting romance!
1. Chapter 1

**Dobby shouted, "You shall not harm Harry Potter!**"

As Lucius Malfoy was flung across the hallway by the strange elf, Harry couldn't help but think what amazing creatures House Elves were. He would hate to be Dobby's enemy. For that matter, having Dobby help you was seemingly a risky business. But now that Dobby was free, perhaps his help could be of the variety that doesn't end you up in hospital...

"Wow Dobby - that was amazing! What are you going to do now? Do you want to work for me?"

"The Great Harry Potter Sir wants me to work for him?"

The diminuitive creature was bouncing with joy. Harry decided to rapidly push on with the conversation before Dobby actually exploded.

"Sure! I'm not sure how much I can afford to pay you though. But I figure that you could help make living with my relatives almost bearable."

"You woulds be willing to _pay_ Dobby? Harry Potter truly is the Greatest Wizard Ever!"

"Haha - calm down! Tell you what, I'll try to visit the bank before going back to Little Whinging, and see how much I have. Then we can discuss how much I can pay you - how does that sound?"

Dobby seemed to be weeping tears of joy. "Harry Potter truly is the best" he managed to exclaim, before popping away.

* * *

And so it came to be that Harry Potter braved his uncle's wrath, and declared that he would be visiting Gringott's, and could make his own way back to Little Whinging if his trunk could be stashed in the back of Vernon's new BMW. There was much huffing and puffing about a wasted trip, but in the end Vernon acquiesced, with a parting comment to the effect that he was glad the "useless freak" couldn't mess up his new car.

The trip to the Leaky Cauldron, through Diagon Alley, and into Gringotts was nice and simple. It seemed that he had picked a quiet time, as there were two tellers available without a queue in sight.

"Hello - could I get a statement of how much money I have in my account please? The name's Harry Potter."

"Here you go", said the goblin, handing him a slip of paper.

Surprised at how quick and easy magic made things, Harry looked at the slip. It was quite simple in form, yet staggering in implication.

Harry Potter: Assets  
Savings Account - G 114867 S 12 K 2  
Investment Account - G 218497 9  
Class 2 storage vault

Even without knowing the conversion rate to Sterling, he could tell that he was pretty wealthy.

"Umm - is there a financial adviser I could speak to please? Is that the sort of service a bank offers?"

"Of course - we provide that service free to holders of investment accounts. Let me see - you're in luck, there's an adviser with a slot open right now. Would that be suitable?"

"That would be great thanks! Where do I go?"

"Just take a seat, and Grabknot will be with you shortly."

Ten minutes later, Harry was seated in a richly appointed office. Dark wood panelling and comfortable high-backed chairs seemed to be the style.

"What can I do for you, Mr Potter?"

"Well, I came to the bank to find out how much I could afford to pay a house elf I would like to hire. It seems that I have rather more money than I thought I did, so I figured I'd get some advice on just how much there is, and how much it would buy me. How much is a galleon worth?"

"I understand that you have had a muggle upbringing? Well the exchange rate varies, but it currently stands at about £28 to the galleon. The average salary in the wizarding world is about G1000 per year, so you can see that you are quite a wealthy young man.

"Wow. Umm, how much would something like a house cost?"

"Well, that varies a lot of course. A basic plot of land can be had fairly cheaply, and construction costs relatively little. Of course land in a prime location, such as Diagon Alley, can be a bit more pricey. The most expensive thing tends to be the wards. The longer they have been established, the more powerful they are. So the most expensive properties are probably the old manor houses, with wards going back centuries. I'm afraid to say that the Potter manor house was destroyed about a year before you were born. As for prices, the bottom end would be around one to two thousand galleons. A good location in the alley might go for up to twenty or thirty thousand. An ancestral manor house hasn't been sold in a century, so I'm afraid I don't know."

"So if I was looking to buy a house, how would I go about it? You see my relatives are pretty awful people, and since I seem to have the money, I figure I could move out. I do all the work around the house anyway, so there would be no change there."

"Gringotts does handle property sales. What sort of thing are you looking for?"

"How about we see what's available in the twenty to thirty thousand galleon range? I seem to be able to afford it!"

"Let's see. Not a huge amount in that range. We have a couple of farms. There's a castle in need of repair. And a shop with apartments above here in Diagon Alley."

"Can you tell me more about the shop please?"

"How about we take the pensieve tour?"

* * *

In the end, things took both more and less time than Harry expected. On the one hand a simple query at the bank had turned in a five hour series of meetings. On the other hand, it took just four hours to become the proud owner of a sizeable abode in the heart of London. It was nice to be rich.

The next few days were hectic. First Harry had to return to Little Whinging to collect his trunk. There were the angry words to be exchanged with his ever-so-loving family when he announced his intention to stay with friends ("Hah - as if the freak has friends!" was Dudley's contribution to the discussion). Then there were wage negotiations with Dobby, in which Harry ended up negotiating the wages *up* from one knut to one galleon per month. Getting the building in a decent state took the rest of the week.

But the effort was worth it. Harry Potter was free! Free from the Dursleys, free from the dreadful dreariness of Little Whinging, and best of all, free to use magic within the wards of his wonderful new home.

* * *

_This is going to be my first attempt at anything of any length. I've decided to ignore any qualms about how awful my writing is, and get on with telling the story I want to tell. My Harry will be fairly OoC, since I view canon!Harry as a bit of a moron, and want a hero I can respect. _


	2. Chapter 2

Now settled into what was fast becoming a comfortable and cosy home, Harry turned his attention towards exploring the contents of the family storage vault. It was an odd collection of items. Several centuries of accumulated financial records and a sizeable amount of antique furniture made up the the bulk of the chamber. But there were more interesting things to be found as well. A collection of hunting trophies was a bit of a surprise. The boxed contents of Godric's Hollow provoked long moments of reflection. But the big find was the small family library, contained within a rich mahogany trunk.

From the note attached to the trunk, it seemed that the bulk of the Potter library had perished when the manor house was razed in the war against Grindelwald. What remained were the best protected parts - books that were either too valuable, too rare, or of too dubious legality to be amongst the main collection. Some were books on dark and esoteric corners of magic that few had thought or dared to tread. Some were first editions of classic works in their field. But for Harry, the greatest works were the journals of generation after generation of Potters. And the crowning glory was his grandfather's life's work - a history of the family, and summary of the contents of those journals.

From that history he discovered that the family stemmed from the disgraced younger son of a family that mostly perished serving a dark lord of the time. Whether that younger son wished to atone for the sins of his parents, or regain the wealth that had been lost was not clear. What was clear is that in 1428 a man going by the name of Edward Potter became the last man in England to single handedly slay a dragon. And with the proceeds from the carcass, and the social standing that went with the feat, the noble Potter family was born.

From there the family grew and shrunk as the years went by. The members turned their hand to one thing or another, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. Overall, the family wealth grew, as did the stores of knowledge. Amongst the journals, Harry had access to the research of an expert on rituals and three spellcrafters, amongst many others.

There were the records of an early anthropologist, who had travelled to Africa in the early 19th century to study the magical practices of the 'primitive, yet noble, savage tribesmen'. Not exactly enlightened thinking by modern standards, but the details of different forms of magic looked quite promising to Harry's eyes.

There was a study attempting the piece together the old ways of magic that had been in practice in the UK before the more formal Latin-based methods took hold in the seventh century. The cultural shift towards Rome, solidified by the conclave of Whitby, had brought a more formal way of doing magic with it, and the foundation of Hogwarts had firmly established that predominance. Yet some families still had records of the old, more volatile, more potent, more dangerous ways. A Potter in the 18th century had pieced together those records.

Through reading these records, or their summaries, Harry was getting ideas. It was clear to him that he wasn't exactly safe. Voldemort wished him dead, and some of his old were seemingly still around and willing to do the deed. He needed to be able to defend himself, and he had within his grasp an archive of unusual magics that could help him do so. Taken on their own, and any of the variety of techniques detailed could be potent. Combining them promised to have interesting results. For now, he would need to study.

* * *

Five weeks later...

"Hermione! You made it - I've got so much to show you!"

"Lead on, Macduff! But first..." she trailed off, then enveloped him in a hug.

"But isn't the quote..."

"Yes, yes I know. But the real one wouldn't make any sense. I didn't know you knew any Shakespeare?"

"Ah, Hermione, there are many things you don't know about me!"

"Was that an attempt at looking mysterious Harry? You would probably pull it off better with a flowing beard."

They both laughed, and continued to trade banter until they came to Harry's house.

"Who are you living with anyway - I don't think your letters ever said?"

"Umm, well. I'm sort of living on my own."

Hermione began to frown.

"It's okay - really!" Harry blurted out. "I would be doing all the chores at the Dursley's anyway. This way I at least get to enjoy the fruits of my labour. And one of the things I've discovered is that I can use magic here!"

"Oh, Harry. Well, you seem happy enough. But you've got a lot of explaining to do!"

"I know, I know. I guess I'd best start at the beginning." He paused. "Want a drink?"

"Some pumpkin juice might be nice."

"Dobby! Can we get a couple of pumpkin juices please? And whatever you want."

Hermione jumped as the house elf popped in with a tray and the requested drinks, placed them on the coffee table, and sat cross-legged in front of them. She and Harry settled into a pair of comfy armchairs, while Harry still giggled at her shock.

"You remember Dobby, tried to warn me about Malfoy and save my life?"

Hermione gave a nod.

"This all started when I asked him to work for me. Very tough negotiator - managed to beat me down to a galleon a month. Anyway, I decided to pay a visit to Gringott's to make sure I could afford it. Turns out that I'm pretty wealthy, so I decided to get away from my 'loving' relatives, and buy this place. I cleared it with them - they were just as glad to be rid of me, though they think I'm with friends. I also found a bunch of rare books that my ancestors left me, and I've been studying pretty hard. That's what I wanted to show you."

"Wait - Dobby negotiated you *down*?"

Dobby nodded vigorously. "Dobby is wanting only a knut a month to be working for great Harry Potter!"

"See what I had to deal with? It seems Dobby is quite unusual among house elves for even wanting to be paid. I know they're not all as poorly treated as Dobby was, but I feel a lot more comfortable paying him than otherwise!"

"Hmm, maybe there's something we can do about the other elves?"

"Sorry missy Granger ma'am," Dobby piped up. "Other house elves are being happy the way they are. They is not wanting to be helped."

"Oh. Well, I'll assume you know best, Dobby. So what's this about rare books?"

"Haha - I knew you'd get to that. Apparently most of the family library was burnt in an attack, but a section survived because it was much more secure. Half the books are unique journals compiled by my ancestors, a few a rare first editions and the like, and the rest were technically illegal."

"Harry! You can't keep illegal books! Oh, you said 'were', did you get rid of them?"

"Calm down, calm down. No, I didn't get rid of them. It's no longer illegal for me to own them."

"But how...?"

"Ah, 'tis a tale of heroism and derring-do! Well, heroism and ancient legal oddities. You see I was doing research into some of the things I found in the family journals, and realised that I could make good use of the parts of a certain giant snake that I recently defeated. So I did some research into how to gather the parts, and realised that while I would have a use for many of the parts, I couldn't think of what to do with the meat. Then the thought occurred that the goblins might find it tasty..."

* * *

_"What can I do for you today, Mr Potter?"_

_"I hope I don't offend you, but you goblins have a bit of a reputation for being exclusively carnivores. Would you be interested in buying a large amount of basilisk meat?"_

_Of all the possible requests, Grabknot had not expected this!_

_"It's not often that a human truly shocks a goblin, Mr Potter. I do not know I'm afraid. I cannot recall the last time that a basilisk was even heard of. May I ask where you would come by such meat?"_

_"Well, I killed a giant basilisk that was petrifying people at Hogwarts. I've got a use for most of the parts, and one of my ancestor's journals said I have the rights to the corpse. I just don't know what to do with the rest!"_

_Now there was something niggling at Grabknot's thoughts. He prided himself on his memory, but was having trouble concentrating on much beyond the fact that the child in front of him had slain a basilisk. Then it came to him._

_"Mr Potter, I hope you will indulge me. As you can imagine, I underwent significant financial and legal training for this position. I recall a particular lecture we had on unintended consequences of poorly thought-out legislation. A final example the lecturer gave was of one particularly momentous combinations of laws."_

_"You see, there was once a time when people of different rank in society had different legal rights. At a certain rank you could own a hawk, at another rank an owl, that sort of thing. The system was quite detailed. Later, most of those restrictions were abolished. But when the ministry wanted to restrict the use of certain magic, they used the existing legal structures, and restricted the magic to those of a newly created rank, and refused to elevate anybody to that rank. Quite elegant, in a way. However, they forgot about the one exception to the rank laws. Anyone who single-handedly slew a category five beast in defence of the populace would be exempt from all rank restrictions, and gain the body of the beast in reward. Quite a spectacular reward for a spectacular deed!"_

_"So if anyone actually managed to single-handedly kill a beast that, by definition, is considered undefeatable by a single wizard, they would be exempt from virtually every restriction that the ministry imposes! I trust you can see where I am going here, Mr Potter."_

_"Wow. So I can probably get away with using magic over the summer?"_

_"Remember, the consequences of your actions are still be prosecutable. If you were to harm someone with a curse, you would be liable for that harm. And if I were you I would inform the DMLE of your new status. A lawyer might be useful."_

_"Thanks, I'll do that. Does Gringott's have lawyers I can hire?"_

_"Indeed we do," was the reply, accompanied by a predatory grin._

* * *

And there we have it - chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione was slightly stunned by the story, but she rallied quickly.

"Well, that makes some sort of sense. I can't quite believe how messed up the legal system is though. What did you want basilisk parts for anyway?"

"Ahah - that's what I asked you here to see! Some of my ancestors did quite extensive research into various forms of magic. Since I seem to be constantly at risk for my life, I decided I need an edge of sorts. So I looked into some of the more interesting looking areas. I've discovered so much!"

"I don't know whether you've noticed, but so much of the magic we use and are taught is slightly frivolous. It's also fairly easy to use. It wasn't always like that. It used to be that the magic used was less formalised, wilder. There were no real limits, just the reality that there was always a risk, and always a price. You were imposing your will on the world, and if you weren't able to see through what was started, it would backfire. And then came along the more formal ways that we use now, with wands that make things safer and easier. The 'price' we pay for the magic we cast is a slight, temporary drain on our internal magic. The structure makes it more difficult to overdo things.

"But with the older ways, the price could be anything you want, but it *will* be paid. If you use your internal magic for something unexpectedly difficult, you could entirely drain yourself. You aren't restricted to your internal magic though. You can use rituals to sacrifice just about anything, and symbolism becomes important. Ritual sacrifice sounds kinda dodgy, but it isn't really. That's what I wanted the basilisk parts for. The blood is magically powerful, there's a lot of symbolism in using the parts of the beast I defeated, and there's a limited supply, making it a true sacrifice."

"Harry, do you mean to tell me that you've been experimenting with magic that hasn't been used for centuries? How did you get to the basilisk anyway? And what magic have you been doing?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds, honest! It hasn't been used in this country for centuries, but some of my ancestors did quite a bit of travelling. Dobby popped me into the chamber easily enough. And as to what I've been doing? I've been enhancing my mind, body and magic.

"You see I've got notes about a tribe that practiced scarification. They would cut magical designs into their skin that would enhance various things. I took what they did, and varied it a little. I'm basing it around magically significant numbers. So for the body you have sets that enhance strength, control and speed. The same for my magic, and my mental abilities. They give a slight boost passively, and a stronger boost if I activate the magic in them. Eventually the idea is to repeat them, so that the effect is enhanced even more."

"You've seriously been carving runes into yourself? Where? I can't see anything. Did it hurt? Why?" Hermione sounded slightly panicked.

"The why - people keep trying to kill me. Where - my chest, arms and temples. You can't see them because I made use of a potion. I combined a healing salve with the blood that formed the ritual sacrifice. So the cuts healed right up, but the form is still there. If I activate the runes they glow slightly red. And yes, it did hurt. That was part of the price to be paid. Don't worry, it wasn't that bad. I've been hurt worse playing quidditch, not to mention what my cousin put me through!"

"Hmmm," her lips a thin line. "How many sets have you done then?"

"The first nine. I can only manage a couple a week, since the magic takes a while to settle down. I actually only used the basilisk blood for the runes for body and magic. I went for a different kind of symbolism for the mind, rather than power and domination. I explained what I was up to to Hedwig, who was kind enough to allow me some of her blood. An owl symbolising wisdom, the blood willingly given. I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, but I feel as if I can understand her better now."

"Does it really make a difference that it was willing?"

"Oh yes! The context such really does matter. Hedwig sacrificed some of her blood for my benefit. Just that act itself has power. I think... I think that's why I survived the killing curse. My mum sacrificed her life for me. As far as I can tell, human sacrifice in itself isn't *that* powerful. The death isn't that big a loss for the person doing the magic. But a life willingly given?"

There was silence between the two of them.

"Anyway," Harry suddenly said, jumping up. "Want to see what I can do?"

The pair wandered from the sitting room into a large room that seemed split into two halves. One half was bare apart from the slightly padded mats covering the floor, and the scorch marks on the wall. The other half was taken up with an impressive work area. A large workbench was covered with bottled samples of what Hermione had to assume were basilisk parts. A cauldron sat simmering away in the corner, and a large set of shelves contained a vast array of ingredients.

Harry walked over to the bare half of the room, and propped up a large block of wood.

"The most obvious change is probably the boost in strength," he said, as a complex set of geometric patterns in deep crimson became visible winding around his lower arms. He spun, delivering a solid kick to the block. Hermione could only gape in amazement as the heavy block was flung at great speed into the wall.

"It's quite impressive, but it would be utterly useless without the control enhancements. I would be accidentally destroying things left, right and centre otherwise. That's always the first set of enhancements I do in a triad. I'm can be much better at detail work, with magic or with my hands. Probably the biggest one though has been the mental control. The ability to concentrate on just one thing, to tamp down emotions. Malfoy will find it much harder to get a rise out of me this year!"

"It's all very impressive Harry, but I'm a little worried. How much are you going to be using them? Is it even allowed for quidditch? And I'm not sure I approve of using them for school work - it seems almost like cheating."

"I've decided that I won't use the active version unless needed. I don't want to have to rely on them. I'm not sure about quidditch. At the moment the passive boost isn't that big, and I already the had the quickest reactions on the pitch. But as I add more layers I'll have to think quite carefully. If I have to quit, I don't want people to know why. Maybe you can help me come up with a reason?"

"I'll try Harry. What about exams though?"

"Well, it depends on how you view them. If it's about who has the most natural ability, them yes I'll be cheating a little. If it's about what you are able to do, then I'm not. I've always been holding back with schoolwork. The Dursleys got upset if I did too well. I've actually been studying ahead since halfway through first year. I've covered everything for this year, and I'm at about fifth year level for runes and arithmancy. Since I decided to stop holding back, you'll have some competition this year! I hope you won't be upset with me?"

"I hope not. I've never been second best at anything academic. If you start doing better than me I don't want to get jealous."

"If you want, I can show you what the enhancements are like? Don't worry - it would be completely painless, and temporary. I'd paint the designs onto you. It's what I did to make sure it would work."

"Would you? Can you do the mind enhancements please?"

"Sure. Now where did I put that quill?" He muttered, rummaging through the things on the workbench. Finding it, and a small bowl, flicked his thumb across the palm of his hand. Hermione could just about make out a crimson design glowing, before blood began to drip into the bowl.

"Blood is so useful, I thought I would add a small design so that I can extract it without having to cut myself. Completely painless. Willingly given, and magically quite potent. For some reason the basilisk venom and phoenix tears haven't disappeared - they just counter each other. So I've got a couple of extremely potent magical substances floating around in there as well. Now, sit down."

As he moved towards her with the bowl and quill, she saw a design around his hands begin to glow.

"Are those the control enhancements?"

"Yup. The designs I'm drawing are quite detailed. Now, I'm going to have to concentrate on the magic while I'm doing it, so hush." He said it with a smile, taking any bite out of the words.

After half an hour, he was done. As the last line was put into place, Hermione felt a warm glow from her temples, that soon subsided. She also felt that everything was subtly clearer. She remembered subtleties from her earlier conversation with him. She could concentrate on details better. And she could make connections between those details quicker.

"Good, isn't it? The improvement you're feeling should be somewhere between the passive level I currently have, and what I have when I'm activating the designs. By the time school starts, I should have things up to that level passively."

"What is it like when the boost goes away? I already don't want to lose this. It's subtle, but so glorious thinking with such clarity."

"Ah, you see the danger, I think. It helps to know that keeping them active constantly will eventually drain you of magic. It isn't so bad. You know intellectually what the boost will do, but you don't feel it. That awareness seems to come with the boost."

"Can I have this permanently? How much does it hurt?"

Harry sighed. "I don't know whether you will be able to cope. The only real way to find out is to try it. The trouble is that you can't stop halfway through the ritual safely. I'm not exactly a stranger to getting hurt. I don't think you could jump straight to the mental enhancements. You would have to do the muscle control one first."

"What if I tried the patterns without doing the actual ritual? Then I would find out if I could cope with that."

"That could work, I suppose. I'm not really comfortable with it though."

"Why not? Is it because I'm a girl?"

"No! No, it's not that. I don't want to see you hurt. You're not used to it, and I don't really want you to become used to it. I don't... I don't want you to become like me." He looked away, throat swollen.

"Oh Harry," she cried, drawing him into a hug. "Don't forget, I haven't exactly been safe at Hogwarts either, what with the troll and running after Quirrel and getting petrified and one day Malfoy will go beyond just words."

"I'm going to do this," she resolved. "At least, I'm going to find out if I can cope with it."

"Very well. I'll sketch out the design that would be needed, and leave you with potions for after. The knife is perfectly clean. I don't think I can cope with watching you. I'll be here, working on a project, but I can't watch."

He fetched what would be required, drew the design in pen on her bare arm, then turned away, swallowing thickly. He tried to concentrate on his latest project, carving down a basilisk fang for use as knife, and possibly highly specialised wand. But even with his newfound control, he couldn't help his hands from shaking as he heard Hermione's gasp of indrawn breath. In spite of himself, he turned around. Hermione had reached the halfway point, her hand shaking. A tear leaked from her eyes. Yet she kept going. Several agonising minutes later, she was done.

"Why, Hermione? Why would you do this to yourself?" He asked, hurrying over. He passed her a potion, which she gulped down. The cuts healed before their eyes, but he could see the memory of pain etched on her face.

"Why do you do it, Harry? Lucius Malfoy set a basilisk on the school, hoping to kill off the muggleborns. Do you think he'll go to prison, or not do anything like it again?" She cried bitterly. "He spent his way out of prison before, and this society is so messed up that he can get away with anything he likes."

"Malfoy will get what's coming to him, I promise that," Harry said grimly. "I've decided that since the wizarding world is so backwards, I'll look backwards in search of a solution. Before governments were powerful enough to enforce the laws, people took the law into their own hands. I'm going to end the Malfoy name. I suppose I'll give Draco a chance to change his name, but Narcissa knew what Lucius planned, and did nothing. I doubt Draco would take that chance - he sounded so gleeful at the thought of a death, I doubt there's any hope for him. I won't make a move any time soon though - it's not something to be done hastily."

"I probably shouldn't have told you all that, Hermione. You just seemed so upset about Malfoy!"

"Oh, I'm not about to tell anybody. I want in! And I'm going to make use of these enhancements you've come up with. Maybe I won't go quite as far as you seem to be planning, but the benefit does seem worth the price. What would I use? I'm thinking that the basilisk blood won't work nearly so well for me as for you."

"Well, my blood seems like it's worked pretty well, and we've got a ready supply on tap. You don't have a familiar, though if you get a cat like you were thinking you might be able to build up a strong enough bond for that to work. Or we could always use generic magical ingredients, but I feel a personal connection to the substance works best."

"If I use some of yours, would you like to use my blood? You said you could understand Hedwig better, and I can't see that us being able to understand each other better could be a bad thing."

"That would be nice, thank you. Lets have dinner, and we can plan what to do."

* * *

_Tada! I'm posting more rapidly than I would normally be able to because I had already written ~10k words before I started putting up chapters. That should take us through to about chapter 5, with 6 in progress. The story is roughly planned out to the end of fourth year, and tentative ideas for a sequel._


	4. Chapter 4

Over the rest of the holidays, Hermione managed to visit four more times, each time completing a ritual to add enhancements first first muscle control, then the triad of the mind. In between these visits she was studying even further ahead, to the point that she had covered the material up through half of fifth year for the core courses. She would use her visits to Harry to make sure that she could actually cast the spells she studied, all the while cursing the ministry's restrictions.

Harry wasn't idle either. As well as steadily adding to his enhancements, he was working on two projects. The first was to practice a single class of spells in great depth. The idea being that if he could completely master cutting spells he would be able to apply what he learnt to other types of spell. So over and over he would cast a basic cutter at a target in his workroom. At first he couldn't vary the spell at all. But with time and practice he could vary the length of the cut from a long slash to a piercing stab. He could cast the spell at a whisper, and eventually without a sound. He reduced the wand movements he needed to a simple jab or slash. He could vary the power, and the speed at which the spell moved. Then he turned his mind to variants of the basic cutting spell. There was a medical variant for delicate work, and a great gouging spell for slicing into rock. The most vicious spell he tried was a flame-cutter, that left a gash burning with a purple fire. He had yet to master those variants, but progress was faster than with the basic spell.

The second project was to create a highly specialised wand, in the form of a dagger carved from a basilisk fang. The greatest challenge in wand-making was to balance the abilities of the wand. He intended to ignore that, and create a knife that would be ideal for casting cutting spells and their variants, but nothing else. The blade he coated in basilisk venom, then protected with a passworded ward. A short phrase in parseltongue would deactivate the ward, and turn the knife from merely dangerous to utterly deadly. Runework around the hilt in fine silver provided a measure of safety - if his hand left the blade, the ward would reactivate. He was surprised when he first cast a spell through it with the ward down. The simple piercing spell not only drilled a hole in the target, but that hole bubbled and corroded awy to twice its size, as if eaten by the venom on the blade itself. It seemed that spells cast through the unwarded venom took on some of its properties.

He resolved never to use such a spell on a person without *very* good reason. Though he did wonder whether using it on the escaped Sirius Black might be justified. At least if Black came after him, he would be ready.

Soon enough, it was time to return to Hogwarts.

* * *

Harry stumbled out of the floo onto the platform. For some reason his enhanced reflexes and muscle control did nothing at all to help him. Maybe it was a curse. Yes, that was it. Somebody had cursed him to have trouble with floo journeys as part of some diabolically evil plan. He was roused fom his musings by an impact as Hermione leapt at him with a hug.

"You made it!"

"Of course I did - what did you expect?"

"Knowing you, an attack by a flock of dragons!"

"A flock? I'm thinking it would be a flambee of dragons!" They both burst into laughter, and made their way towards the train.

"I've already dumped my stuff in a compartment. It was already a bit full, so I ended up having to go for one with what seems to be the new defence professor in it. I hope that's okay?"

"Should be - they don't tend to try to off me until the end of the year! Where's Ron?"

"Not here yet - there's a whole ten minutes before the train leaves, so he'll probably be another eight."

In the end, the Weasleys arrived a whole five minutes before the train left, and the trio were soon sat in the compartment. Their conversation was slightly muted compared to normal, for fear of waking the slumbering Prof. Lupin. Having been in Egypt all summer, Ron had a lot of catching up to do.

Biggest of all was the subject of Hermione's new pet, Crookshanks, who introduced himself in the way that only a cat could. From his spot on the luggage rack he jumped first to Ron's shoulder, and then pounced on his lap. Harry could only wince at the thought of what that impact could have been like, while Ron was more worried about Scabbers, who sought refuge in his pocket. Hermione was at once apologetic and defensive. It was *not* the best introduction to a new pet!

Then there was Ron's reaction to Harry's change of plans for the third year options.

"What do you want to go and do that for? We could have had it easy!"

"What with everything that's happened the past couple of years, I figured it was time to stop slacking, Ron."

"I guess. But don't go turning into another Hermione on me will you?"

"Haha - I can think of worse fates!"

This got Harry a grateful smile from Hermione. It was this little episode that convinced Harry that Ron just wasn't mature enough for him to share the full extent of his summer activities, or his plans for the future. They would still be friends, but he wouldn't share everything like they had in the past. Looking to Hermione he could tell that she was having similar thoughts.

They soon returned to more pleasant conversation as the train wound its way steadily northwards, the plains and rolling hills giving way to moorland and mountains. As familiar as the journey had become, they were surprised when the train rolled to a halt far short of Hogsmeade.

"What's going on," asked Ron, "we've never stopped before."

"I don't know - it's not like any other trains use this line. And we can't have hit a cow, or we'd have stopped a lot more suddenly."

All of a sudden, the lights went out, and a chill began to fill the air. In the corner, Remus Lupin's eyes snapped open.

"It can't be," he muttered, "even the ministry can't be so stupid as to..."

He trailed off as the door slid open, revealing a tall cloaked figure. He prepared to fend it off, searching to recall a pleasant memory in the face of the dementor's gaze. He was just about to utter the first syllable of the incantation, when Harry sprang into action.


End file.
